SOD CULTURE VERSUS TILLAGE 1 25 



There seems to be little difference between the keeping qualities 

 of the fruit in cold storage, but in common storage the difference 

 is in favor of the sod-grown fruit. 



By actual count, the size of the apples- shows some difference, 

 in most cases about a hundred more apples of the sod-grown 

 variety than of the cultivated fruit being required to fill a barrel. 

 The same difference was found where the apples were graded. 



The wood on both young and old trees grown under the clean- 

 culture method seems in better condition, of better color, and 

 plumper than that on the sod-grown trees. 



The experience of many orchardists interested in both methods 

 seems to indicate that the most important factor is the conserva- 

 tion of moisture. Under clean culture with cover crops probably 

 the maximum amount is saved. Under poor sod management 

 most of the moisture is undoubtedly lost, but with good manage- 

 ment and plenty of mulch material the loss of moisture may be 

 lessened. It would be impossible, however, to stop the loss of 

 water occasioned by the transpiration of grass. Moreover, in 

 many cases so much water is necessary to promote the growth 

 of grass that the amount remaining in the soil available to the 

 tree is not great enough for the production of wood, leaves, 

 blossoms, and fruit. 



Experimental evidence. A summary of an experiment by the 

 Geneva Experiment Station, New York, on a comparison of the 

 tillage and sod mulch in an apple orchard is very interesting. 

 This experiment was begun in 1903 in the orchard of Mr. W. D. 

 Auchter, near Rochester, New York. In this orchard are 9I acres 

 of Baldwin trees, 40 feet apart each way, set in 1877. Of these, 

 118 are in sod, 121 under tillage. 



The Auchter orchard was chosen for this experiment because it 

 was uniform in soil and topography and quite typical of the apple 

 lands of western New York. The land is slightly rolling and is 

 a fertile Dunkirk loam, about 10 inches in depth, underlaid by a 

 sandy subsoil. 



The tilled land was plowed each spring and cultivated from 

 four to seven times. The grass in the sod plat was usually cut 

 once, sometimes twice. In all other operations the care was 

 identical. 



